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People used to routinely die from infections in the prime of their lives back then. The life expectancy at the turn of the 1900's was 47 (and much less if you w
by eloff 4y ago
People used to routinely die from infections in the prime of their lives back then. The life expectancy at the turn of the 1900's was 47 (and much less if you were black.) People sometimes romanticize the past, which is really doing a huge disservice to how far we've come. I would not want to have been born at any previous time, I'm living in the best time yet. The future will likely be even better. We'll get off fossil fuels, push computers to their limits, expand industry into space, and gain ground on many of the diseases that have plagued us, including cancer and aging itself. The future belongs to the optimists, until it doesn't.
- saalweachter 4y agoNote that old life expectancy at birth figures were heavily biased by absolutely insane infant mortality rates. I'm already terrified of the current US 6‰ infant mortality rate; the historical rate of 250-500‰ is incomprehensible to me. Life expectancy at age 10+ in 1900 was closer to 60 years (total); still shortened by infection and accident, but not quite so extreme.
- tomcam 4y agoLet me unterrify you. The number you are looking at is about 5.42 deaths PER THOUSAND, not per hundred. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr71/nvsr71-05.pdf https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr71/nvsr71-05.pdf
- pcl 4y agoThat lines up with 6‰ — that symbol is “per mille”, vs the similar “per cent” or “percent” sign “%”.
- tomcam 4y agoOh! Didn’t know about it
- TecoAndJix 4y agoToday I am one of the lucky 10,000! https://xkcd.com/1053/ https://xkcd.com/1053/
- saalweachter 4y agoYes. That number is terrifying. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Per_mille https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Per_mille
- tomcam 4y agoTIL. I appreciate learning that notation. Carry on being terrified.